Riley Keough was paralyzed by grief after her brother Benjamin’s suicide last summer.
The 32-year-old actress, who is Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, admitted she ‘couldn’t get out of bed’ for months after her brother Benjamin Keough took his own life at the age of 27 in July 2020.
She added that she felt ‘totally debilitated’ after his passing and was barely able to function for some time.
‘Couldn’t get out of bed ‘: Riley Keough is continuing to share more details about her emotional reaction to her brother Benjamin’s suicide last summer; seen here last month
She told the New York Times: ‘[It’s been] a year of feeling like I was thrown into the ocean and couldn’t swim.
‘The first four or five months, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was totally debilitated. I couldn’t talk for two weeks.’
The ‘Zola’ star is still struggling to process her brother’s death because it was such an ‘outrageous’ event.
‘It’s very complicated for our minds to put that somewhere because it’s so outrageous,’ Riley explained.
Difficult: The 32-year-old actress admitted she felt ‘totally debilitated’ after her brother Benjamin took his own life at the age of 27 in July 2020
‘If I’m going through a breakup, I know what to do with that and where to file it in my mind, but suicide of your brother? Where do you put that? How does that integrate? It just doesn’t,’ she observed to NYT’s Kyle Buchanan..
Earlier this month, the Lodge star remembered Benjamin in a heartfelt tribute marking one-year since he took his own life.
‘Today has been a year without you baby brother. I miss you endlessly every day,’ she shared along with a slew of throwback photos of the pair.
Earlier this month: The Lodge star remembered Benjamin in a heartfelt tribute marking one-year since he took his own life
Last October, it was revealed that Riley’s brother Benjamin had cocaine and alcohol in his system when he shot himself dead after arguing with his girlfriend at age 27 that summer.
At the time, sources revealed he’d been ‘struggling’ and that his death, while devastating, was not a ‘huge surprise’ to his mother or other relatives.
Since then, Riley has sought support from her friends and family, including husband Ben Smith-Petersen.
Since the incident: Riley has sought support from her friends and family, including husband Ben Smith-Petersen
She said: ‘I wanted to make sure that I was feeling everything and I wasn’t running from anything.’
The Runaways actress revealed earlier this year she’d trained as a death doula and she admitted it’s been helpful with her grief knowing she can reach out and support others in a similar position.
‘That’s really what’s helped me, being able to put myself in a position of service,’ she told the Times. ‘If I can help other people, maybe I can find some way to help myself.’
Riley recently admitted she still has ‘hard days’ as she grieves for her brother, but she’s doing her best to live in the moment and be appreciative of the good things in her life.
Tribute: Riley recently admitted she still has ‘hard days’ as she grieves for her brother, but she’s doing her best to live in the moment and be appreciative of the good things in her life
‘I’m really consciously trying to be present, and not use anything as any kind of escape, and be cognizant of when I’m doing that.
‘I’m just generally trying to be grateful for everything at the moment, trying to operate in love, and keep my heart open, and give and receive love,’ the Mad Max: Fury Road performer continued.
‘And not in a woo-woo way, because I definitely have hard days, and all kinds of pain and suffering and all that.
‘But I think when you realize that’s part of it, and your expectation isn’t to just be feeling joy, that’s been a real shift for me in finding those moments and things to smile about.’
‘I’m just generally trying to be grateful for everything at the moment, trying to operate in love, and keep my heart open, and give and receive love,’ the Mad Max: Fury Road performer said